Petrelli Family Dynamics
by paynesgrey
Summary: Just another typical Petrelli dinner. Season 1. ONE-SHOT. Genfic. This will not be continued.


AN: Written for the "Sigmund Freud" one-shot challenge at heroes_contest on Livejournal. Season 1 spoilers/timeframe. This one-shot will not be continued.

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><p><span>Petrelli Family Dynamics<span>

Saturday night's dinner at the Petrelli household proceeded, as usual, with an argument.

The four of them: Heidi, Angela, Peter and Nathan, all sat at the table slamming around bowls, chewing their food angrily while darting their eyes accusingly at one another.

Angela, however, tried to be calm and composed among Peter and Nathan's noticeable anger. While Nathan was ready to crush the delicate wine stem in his hand, Peter was about to upturn the kitchen table, or worse, burst into tears.

Heidi seemed numb to the whole charade, as if she'd seen enough from this family to be unaffected by such behavior anymore. She stared at her peas in her usual apathy, chewing slowly and mentally vacationing somewhere else.

Nathan glared at his mother and glanced over at the empty plate on the table, and then brought his eyes back at Peter.

"It really is of no consequence. I don't know why you two are so upset," Angela said calmly.

"Ma, don't start," Nathan said, taking a big bite of potatoes while still managing to grind his teeth under the stress.

"This is why I can't bring women around," Peter added unhelpfully.

"I thought you were gay," Nathan said through a full mouth, trying to diffuse the situation, but only making it worse. Peter's eyes hotly bulged to the offense. Nathan ignored his glower and sighed loudly, taking a large gulp of his wine.

"You thought I was gay, seriously? You seemed to forget the last girl I brought over to dinner who ended up calling our family a Freudian hot mess." Peter shook his head, chuckled to himself and then stabbed a slice of his sirloin, only to keep poking without intending to put any food in his mouth.

"Stop whining and eat something, Peter," Angela said sidetracking.

"Yes, because there is so much leftover food now that our guest has run out of the house screaming," Peter said, rolling his eyes.

"He wasn't _screaming_, thank God," Angela clarified.

"Yes, then we might have some other guests for dinner, like the police," Nathan droned.

"We did nothing illegal," Angela said, and Peter laughed mockingly. Heidi looked up, stared at them like she had a lobotomy and then turned to grab the wine bottle to her right.

"We invited a lobbyist to dinner to help Nathan with his campaign, only to bribe him with information that he was sleeping around on his wife - with other men," Peter said. "Oh, wait, I didn't do that, _you_did." He turned accusingly to his mother. "How polite and respectable of you, Mom."

Nathan sighed again. "So much for that opportunity," Nathan bemoaned. "How you came about that information, I'll never know."

"Provided it's true," Peter scoffed.

"Oh it's true. You just need to trust me on this," Angela said, and Nathan caught a smirk. Peter watched her and looked as though he swallowed a hot pepper.

"You know, I don't even care about this anymore," Peter said, throwing up his hands. Nathan shot his brother a dangerous look, and Peter challenged his glare.

"Pete, you said you supported me on this run," Nathan said.

"Not if our mother is going to pull a Mrs. Iselin on us. God, Nathan, I can't believe you! And don't tell me you didn't think she'd do something like this," Peter said, and Nathan grunted.

"Don't preach to me, Nurse boy. I'm the one in politics. I know the games."

Peter laughed. "I knew it, you're not even _that_upset."

"Well, he was going to promise a huge donation," Angela chimed in with a languid sigh. "Pity it didn't work out."

"Argh, this family!" Peter said, and he stood up so fast his chair fell behind him. "I'm going to go find some Valium," he muttered, and Heidi's face lit up as she was paying attention now.

"Hey! Me too!" she said, wheeling after Peter as he stormed away.

Angela turned to her other son, and their eyes met for a tense moment, and when she rested her finely manicured hands on Nathan's shoulder, he relaxed and began poking idly at his food again. She smiled at him with reassurance.

"Don't worry. I have another donor for you campaign, a much more worthy and competent one," she said. Nathan stared at her cryptic smile and felt a sense of dread pool in his belly.

He didn't know what she was planning, but suddenly Nathan wasn't so hungry anymore. He shouldn't be surprised, really.

It was just another ruined Petrelli family dinner.

END


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